There’s been an accident.
It happened Tuesday evening on the back porch where we were grilling our dinner. Waylon was crawling around at Austin’s feet and in a moment of panic (the grill was on fire), Austin looked away at the exact moment Waylon stood up beside the grill and laid his hands on the side of it.
Because he’s a baby, he didn’t let go right away, resulting in 2nd degree burns on the palm and fingertips of his right hand and fingertips of his left hand.
He cried for two hours straight, with only a few pauses for air. It was not a normal cry, it was one of pain and fear and confusion. My heart broke into a million pieces. I held him, I sang to him, I tried to help him with aloe and cool water. Mostly I stomped around the house and yelled at Austin for being negligent. It was not my finest moment.
After a half hour of hysteria, Austin announced that he had to leave for a school-related patient project. You can imagine my reaction. First I shouted something along the lines of ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And then I threatened to take Waylon to the ER. When he finally left, I collapsed with (still screaming) Waylon on the couch and we both cried.
Five minutes later my sister showed up with cooling pads. When I handed the baby over to her, he immediately calmed down, thankful to be with someone more responsible.
I was still concerned about his burnt flesh, so I called a good friend who is in medical school and then our doctor who reassured me I was doing the right things.
Once the Advil kicked in and my sister and I got his hand wrapped, Waylon turned into Baby Of The Year. He smiled, he cooed, he laughed at our jokes. You know that feeling the first day back after something terrible like the flu? It was like that. He grinned from ear to ear. He had survived!
When Austin got home a few hours later, he was surprised to find Waylon and I on the couch, stress eating puffers and watching Arrested Development reruns. I had put on a Barney Sing Along I found on Netflix as a “I’m sorry you burned your hand treat,” but he was uninterested. Of course this made me feel very superior.
Over the past two days I’ve been fielding major mom guilt over my wounded soldier’s sad, bandaged hands; coddling him, holding him, reading A Day At The Farm 15 times in a row.
I know this is just the first of many injuries (who are we kidding?), but still.
The truth is, I wanted to write a well thought out, funny post about this whole experience, but I’m still too sad. It’s not really that funny and even though he’s perfectly fine and even a bit excited about something new to chew on around his fingers, I don’t want to relive it any more than I have to.
The End.
***
Our third daughter had just learned to crawl when it was time to light the wood stove for heat during the cooler months. Within several days of starting the fire, she managed to put BOTH hands on the hot wood stove at the same time. It is amazing how loud little people can be. I held her for an eternity as we kept both of her little hands in bowls of ice water. She has turned out to be quite an amazingly funny and wonderful young lady. I might have more scars from the event than her. Take heart!
Poor girl. I should be thankful we don’t have a wood stove.
I burned both my palms when I was old enough to know better. Someone was chasing me and I fell against the wood stove. I remember sleeping with ice pops in my hands for what seemed like forever.
Waylon will be fine! Babies heal fast :)
I think I remember this!
How do you remember this? Were you there?!
Sad story!
Easily as hard on you as it was on him! Poor you, its so heartbreaking when your baby is hurting. I teared up reading this. You are a good mommy. Accidents just happen.
Thanks Leigh!
I’ve had to call poison control 3 times.
I should probably get that on speed dial…
:)
oh kate. you did exactly the right things. and you’re continuing to do exactly the right things with piling on the extra love. this was scary and sad and luckily it’s over. xo.
I don’t like how “luckily it’s over ” comes across. what I really mean is thank god you’re getting through it. I know it’s not “over” until the heartache and bandages are gone.
I love your sensitive spirit.
You were right the first time. The worst was those first few hours. He doesn’t even really notice now. He just crawls on the sides of his hands.
my fourth grabbed my razor (which was in easy reach) and sliced her hand right before 30 people showed up for her party. thankfully it was my 4th. i was still feeling bad! but she was ok. and Ihave the photos to prove it!
“thankfully it was my 4th” — haha!
You poor dear! And the poor babe! Ouch!
The rawness (both the burn and your sad) will fade. You are such a good mama.
Thanks JJ.
Oh, I am so sorry! I know you must be feeling awful. Hopefully it will heal quickly. Poor first babies, I always refer to them as our burnt pancakes because we’re still learning with them!
I burned my hand on an iron when I was little (like 4) because my mom told me to check and see if it was plugged in, and instead I touched it. She felt awful for days!
Burnt pancakes–brilliant.
We all get these object learnings during life. I remember my sister prying an electric plug out of a wall socket with a silver knife at age 4 and getting hurtled across the room. Luckily she survived.
It is very hard though to see this happen to your own kids. All it takes is just a moment’s distraction and anything can happen to a newly mobile and very inquisitive toddler. Visiting the ER is no fun either. It can be crowded, noisy, hectic, and all the Waylons will know or care about is that it still hurts a lot.
Minutes fly by like hours. As a doctor myself, I recall how little Moms like to deal with these problems themselves. You will hear about it when you get home. It’s also no fun to feel useless when it is your child that is the injured party.
I recall taking my youngest son Age 5 into see a colleague on duty in the ER after he stepped in broken glass. My son let loose with several words I was not aware he knew. Everybody grinned that frozen smile. He healed faster than I did.
Luckily we do survive these trials, both as parents and small children.
Thanks Tom!
Oh I am so sorry girl… that is no fun at all! I do not respond well in the case of emergency and feel like my brain freezes… big sigh! And then being left alone with the baby… that is no fun at all! My husband does so much better with the sickness-baby combination than I do… I am glad for you that it is over!
I’m glad it’s over too! Brain freeze is the worst. Everything is going in slow motion, except it’s not.
When my little brother was about 3, my dad was outside tilling the garden. He stopped the tiller outside the shed and went to take care of something else. Dad thought mom had David, Mom thought Dad was watching him outside. Yeah… you can see where this is going! David, who was obsessed with anything with an engine went over to the tiller and grabbed the muffler! (Well, I’m pretty sure it was the muffler… either way it was a very hot part of the tiller. :D) He had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his hand. Poor kid.
He survived though… :) He’s 16 now…and knows how to properly operate yard machinery.
What a relief!
The first baby injury, especially when you feel slightly at fault is the worst. When my son was about 6 months old I was carrying him to the car in the rain and I slipped off a curb. I fell with my baby and landed on his foot resulting in a broken ankle. I have NEVER felt so bad in my entire life. Now, my son is almost two and I understand that it’s not the first time he’s going to get hurt and we have a little chuckle at the empty cast sitting on his book shelf.
Take care of your bruised heart too, I can assure you it will heal.
Thanks Stacey!
You are a great mama and have a great sister.
I sure do.
Aw Kate…how hard. My mom, who is amazing just as you are, still feels bad to see the scar on my sister’s shoulder from “helping” to make applesauce when she was little. I hope it helps ease your “major mom guilt” to know that so many have been there!
It really does. Thanks Beth.
this hurts my heart….Poor baby, thankfully, he will heal and forget about it…but it will take much longer for Mama. it will be okay, you’re a great Mom.
Thanks Sara!
WT will bounce back. They always do. Luckily, he won’t even remember this trauma. Ha, but they’ll be pictures and he’ll still make you feel guilty about it someday.
Earlier this week , Jonah had gotten out of the bath and i was finishing up with Henry. Suddenly it seemed too quiet and I went out in the living room to discover Jonah was playing ALONE AND NAKED in the FRONT yard. Mother of the year award.
That’s awesome. Seriously.
girl. i would’ve been a friggin mess myself. i kinda want to hug you right now. that sucked. but he’s ok. that’s the important part. you earned yourself TWO glasses of wine that day.
At first I read that “I would’ve frigging messed myself…” and I thought, yeah, I almost did.
I don’t know, stress eating puffers was pretty funny.
I love you guys. I hope it gets better.
Have you had the Garden Tomato? They are like Doritos with half the calories. I can’t stop.
Thanks E.
I fell on a grill when I was 3 and burnt my hand. My hand works fine today and I have no bad feelings toward my parents. :)
Thank goodness.
Hang in there! I had one of these moments not long ago… My daughter fell off one of our horses and broke her arm (she’s 2 1/2). Being 8 months pregnant and having a child that I had no clue what was wrong with, crying like crazy on the way to the ER was heart wrenching! Especially since I was there just on the other side of the fence and saw her fall:( She was riding bareback and my Dad turned to a-just the horses lead rope, the horse stepped side ways and my daughter wasn’t quite ready and of she went… My daughter has natural God given talent on a horse (can jog around the ring bareback without anyone holding her on) so when she fell I was afraid she wouldn’t continue to ride:( That hasn’t stopped my daughter from loving these beautiful animals and I am so thankful! She will have a cast for another week and a half and has already been back on a horse many times! (Plus she got her own saddle for easter! Imagine her delight!)
Life happens so fast and it seems even faster with children!
We as parents are very fortunate to have children who heal quickly!
P.S. Its ok to feel sad! Thats what makes you a better mom!
Thanks Ellen!
Oh how sad! It can be so awful to be a mother. . .
We call our son the ER-kid. sighhhhh He burned his whole palm on the woodstove at the cabin. sigh again. My sister, a nurse, always wants to put a helmet on him.
It can be so awful to be a mother… ha! Waylon will probably need a helmet too.
Oh girl, I’ve bee reading your blog for a while but never commented before, but this deserved a comment. I totally feel your pain. When my son, whose around Waylon’s age, was 5 months old, he rolled off the bed and fractured his skull. We spent the night in the hospital and I think I cried for 12 straight hours. I couldn’t look my husband in the eye. And there’s nothing like a hospital visit from social services to make you feel thisbig.
Anyway, at the time moms inundated me with stories of things that happened to their babies and while I was too sad at the time to appreciate it, I’ve finally accepted that these things do happen and thank the lord, babies are resilient . Moms on the other hand…I’m not too sure, I think that night shaved years off my life :)
Thanks for sharing, M. My heart broke thinking about you in the hospital feeling awful, and then social services making you feel even worse. Oh, I would’ve been a mess. Seriously, thank you for sharing that. Your mom heart only expanded because of it.
Pingback: End Of The Week Snacks (4.6.12) | Motley Mama
Poor mama and baby! :( But accidents do happen. I still remember two months ago when I came home from my critique group and my husband said our son rolled off the changing table and onto the hardwood floor. He didn’t call me because he didn’t want me to race home in the snowy weather. I was less than happy with him but the little guy was asleep in his crib like nothing happened.
Of course, Daddy had major guilt about it for a week, but all in all, it ended well. He didn’t land on his head or anything and there were no bruises. But he screamed for a good hour before DH got him to go to sleep.
My son will have surgery in his hands and little fingers . They will cut his flesh and get to the bones and remove fingers nails. I would take a burn rather than a big complicated surgery with a small percentage of success…
This happened to my first born Gavin , I was trying to do a Montessori approach of teaching in the kitchen he was about 18 months or almost 2 and he put his hand down on the glass top electric stove top…it was horrible. I stopped doing the Montessori approach in the Kitchen ! by the way love your blog love it!!
I stumbled upon this blog after googling “I burnt my baby’s hand while cooking.” I was looking for other stories about mother’s accidentally burning their babies as a way to make myself feel better. Just a few hours ago, I was holding my 5 month old daughter in my right hand while trying to add butter to the pot of rice on the stove with my left hand. Next thing you know, her little hand reached out and grazed the edge of the pot. She screamed for 10 seconds, then stopped. I immediately put her hand under cool running water and she seemed ok. I saw a little mark and thought that was it. About 20 minutes later she started screaming bloody murder and I realized she also burnt two fingers as well s the back of her hand. WHAT kind of IDIOT mother holds their baby while cooking over a hot stove??? I NEVER thought I would be THAT mother…but today, apparently, I was. Called the dr. on call who didn’t call back for 45 min and by that time, we were 5 minutes away from the ER. I described what happened and she actually said not to go in, but to just put burn cream, and wrap it in gauze. SO–that’s what we did. We turned around and went home. The car ride seemed to help calm her and it was bedtime when we got home. After nursing her, she went right down. Poor baby. I feel like the worst mother in the entire world.
Oh mama I have been there (obviously). Day 2 will be so much better. It’s just the first few hours that are the worst. Poor baby and poor mama. Don’t feel bad, it happens to the best of us. She will feel better soon!
Pingback: End Of The Week Snacks {3.8.13} | Motley Mama